Top 10 Software Stories Of 2010

In any year, there are winners and losers, those that successfully rode--or shaped--the tide, and those smashed by the waves of change. As virtual battles raged on Xboxes, Kinects, and other platforms, software developers waged war over market share and steadily loosening budget dollars. Eagerly awaited new products and beta versions made their debuts, jockeying for position and sales. The past year was, of course, no exception. In the rapid-paced world of social media, granddaddy MySpace all-bu

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This year marked the end of a lawsuit that began in 2007 when Oracle filed suit against TomorrowNow, a provider of maintenance and support services for Oracle solutions, and SAP, which acquired the provider back in 2005, for "inappropriate" downloads of Oracle support materials. SAP conceded, and a jury decided SAP should pay Oracle $1.3 billion. During the industrial espionage trial, Oracle attorney David Boies considered playing the videotaped deposition of former SAP CEO -- and current HP CEO -- Leo Apotheker, and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison sought the executive, publicly stating he had evidence Apotheker was complicit in the improper downloading of Oracle software. Former SAP co-CEO Henning Kagermann testified during the trial, and acknowledged some downloads were "inappropriate."

Open source also continued to gain adherents, as the government encouraged departments to investigate its use as a cost-effective alternative to pre-packaged, commercial applications. Public or private sector, saving money -- the concept of doing more with less -- was one of the main software-investment drivers for the year. Software spending was slated to grow 6.6% in the United States this year, reaching $568 billion, according to Forrester.

"We are entering a new six- to seven-year cycle of IT growth and innovation that Forrester calls Smart Computing," said Bartels. "New technologies of awareness married to advanced business intelligence analytics make computing smart. Smart Computing rests on new foundation technologies such as service-oriented architecture, server and storage virtualization, cloud computing, and unified communications. 2010 marks the beginning of this next phase of technology advancement."

There's no doubt Google has made headway into businesses: Just 28 percent discourage or ban use of its productivity ­products, and 69 percent cite Google Apps' good or excellent ­mobility. But progress could still stall: 59 percent of nonusers ­distrust the security of Google's cloud. Its data privacy is an open question, and 37 percent worry about integration.